The benefit isn’t the physical disk, it’s the ownership of the game. They can and do take away digital purchases, they cannot take away your disk.
Comment on End of an era?
Nalivai@lemmy.world 16 hours ago
I seriously don’t understand the “disk” thing. I could see how you want your game to be on a physical media so you don’t have to download it when you want to play, but games are so big you couldn’t do it for decades already, and having a disk is barely saves you any time anyway. Meanwhile it’s a waste of materials, it get scratched all the time, and if you lose it it’s gone.
Chill_Dan@lemmy.world 16 hours ago
Nalivai@lemmy.world 14 hours ago
But that’s the point, your game is not on your disk! Your game is downloaded after you insert your disk. You can’t do it without an account. When they decide to take away your digital renting agreement, or when they decide to not support your game anymore, your disk becomes a piece of plastic that you can’t do shit about. You don’t own a game, you own a piece of plastic that has some private downloader on it.
Y’all talking like we’re in 1998 and the game can fit on a disk leaving room for developer’s commentary.baggachipz@sh.itjust.works 13 hours ago
Yeah at this point the disc is basically a license key. If they pull that game from the servers you’re SOL anyway. This ending of discs is largely representative of the situation which has already existed for a while.
AusatKeyboardPremi@lemmy.world 12 hours ago
your game is not on your disk! Your game is downloaded after you insert your disk.
I have seen this being mentioned a few times. I wonder what those games are, or whether people are exaggerating for hyperbole.
I own physical copies of PS5 exclusives that I play without signing in to PSN. Most recently, I played the director’s cut of Ghost of Tsushima this way. I used to do the same on my PS4 too.
thatGuyWithGlasses@lemmy.world 15 hours ago
I think its because you can borrow a game from a friend. That was always the reasoning behind higher pricing of console titles. I wonder if borrowing a game between friends or buying second hand will be still a thing now.
tmyakal@infosec.pub 14 hours ago
No, it won’t be. That’s literally the point. Publishers have viewed the second-hand market as craven scalpers for decades. Companies like GameStop make an absolute killing selling the same used disc 3 or 4 times at $65/ea than selling new for $70 once.
Every few years there’s a new and more aggressive push to limit what people can do or get with a trade-in. It’s why pre-order “bonuses” have gotten to be such a big deal, why live-service games got such a huge push, and now why Sony is eliminating physical media. They think cutting the resellers out means they’ll get more customers, not that less people will play their games.
Nalivai@lemmy.world 14 hours ago
You’re correct, but the existence of a physical disk is mainly irrelevant to this issue.
Nalivai@lemmy.world 14 hours ago
Can you? With an age of always online shit, can you really give a friend your disk, and they will be able to play, or will it tell you that the game is already registered to an account?
If it’s still not the case for some games, it’s not the lack of disks that finishes it.